Prescribing Appropriately

Author: Kimberly N. Powell, DDS, MS, FAGD

Pain is defined as physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury.  There is pain, and there is dental pain which patients have described as unbearable.  Finding the source of the problem and treating is paramount, but appropriately managing the discomfort medicinally is important also.  Inflammation is typically the cause of acute dental pain, so the appropriate choice would be medication that reduces inflammation, NSAIDs.  If you’re able to tolerate them, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics like ibuprofen rather than opioids are “recommended as the preferred therapy for pain management”.  Now when NSAIDs alone are not effective, the combination of an NSAID with acetaminophen is recommended.  An article in General Dentistry noted the benefits of synergism in pharmacology to manage pain.  The article defined synergism as the effect of 2 or more agents working in combination that is greater than the expected additive effect of either drug alone.  It can “help maximize the therapeutic effects of 2 or more medicines while minimizing the potential adverse effects”.  This is helpful in that relief can be obtained effectively without the use of opioids thus avoiding contending with their potentially addictive quality.  Although ibuprofen and acetaminophen (Tylenol) are over-the-counter medications, they must be taken in the proper dosage, schedule, and duration.  Follow your dentist’s recommendation for taking the drug combination.  So after that extraction, even wisdom tooth extraction, and ibuprofen or combination of Ibuprofen and acetaminophen is prescribed rather than hydrocodone, you will be pleased with how effective the medication alleviates your dental pain.

 *Source of information in this article obtained from General Dentistry, January/February 2023, Vol. 71, No. 1 and Oxford Languages